The Likelihood of Knowledge

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Knowledge and Certainty

   • Robert G. Meyers

   Pages 1-18

3. Certainty and Fallibilism

   • Robert G. Meyers

   Pages 19-35

4. Certainty and Sensations

   • Robert G. Meyers

   Pages 36-50

5. The Nature of Justification

   • Robert G. Meyers

   Pages 51-85

6. Justification and the Gettier Problem

   • Robert G. Meyers

   Pages 86-105

7. Perceptual Knowledge and Physical Objects

   • Robert G. Meyers

   Pages 106-133

8. Foundations and Coherence

   • Robert G. Meyers

   Pages 134-154

9. Skepticism and Rationality

   • Robert G. Meyers

   Pages 155-178

10. Back Matter

    Pages 179-188

    PDF

It is convenient to divide the theory of knowledge into three sets of problems: 1. the nature of knowledge, certainty and related notions, 2. the nature and validi­ ty of the sources of knowledge, and 3. answers to skeptical arguments. The first set includes questions such as: What is it to know that something is the case? Does knowledge imply certainty? If not, how do they differ? What are the con­ ditions of knowledge? What is it to be justified in accepting something? The sec­ ond deals with the ways in which knowledge can be acquired. Traditional sources have included sources of premisses such as perception, memory, in­ trospection, innateness, revelation, testimony, and methods for drawing conclu­ sions such as induction and deduction, among others. Under this heading, philosophers have asked: Does innateness provide knowledge? Under what con­ ditions are beliefs from perception, testimony and memory justified? When does induction yield justified belief? Can induction itself be justified? Debates in this area have sometimes led philosophers to question sources (e. g. , revela­ tion, innateness) but usually the aim has been to clarify and increase our understanding of the notion of knowledge. The third class includes the peren­ nial puzzles taught to beginning students: the existence of other minds, the problem of the external world (along with questions about idealism and phenomenalism), and more general skeptical problems such as the problem of the criterion. These sets of questions are related.

• bibliography
• drawing
• experience
• foundation
• idealism
• knowledge
• memory
• nature
• perception
• rationality
• reason
• skepticism
• subject
• tradition
• truth

• Department of Philosophy, SUNY at Albany, USA

  Robert G. Meyers

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